Drop-hammer.



W. H. CARPENTER.

DROP HAMMER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. I5, 1916.

1 65,69, Patented May 7,1918.

WINFRED I-I. CARPENTER, 0F MUNCIE, INDIANA.

DROP-HAMMER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 7, 1918.

Application filed September 15, 1916. Serial No. 120,224.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, YVYINFRED H. CARPEN- rnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Muncie, in the county of Delaware and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drop-Hammers, of which the following is a specification.

Prior to my invention it has been the practice to form the upper and lower dies for drop forging hammers of large blocks of metal adapted to be secured to the ram and anvil or sow respectively, the die cavities being formed substantially at the centers of the meeting faces of the respective die members or blocks, and surrounded by the broad, fiat meeting surfaces of the respective blocks which receive and sustain the impact when the ram is dropped to forge the piece of metal being operated upon. By reason of the shock which these the blocks are required to withstand, they must be of great bulk and the flat meeting'faces must be of considcrable extent in order to avoid being upset or disfigured. At the same time it is essential to the durability of the die that it be made of a high grade steel which is capable of being readily tooled, and it should properly also respond to hardening treatment which is applied after the die cavity has been formed. The size of these die blocks, however, makes them very expensive. hen made of a desirable grade of steel, they are unwielc y to handle in the tooling operation requiring more than the strength of the die maker, and it is impossible to satisfactorily harden them because the mass of the metal is so great that after it has been heated it supplies heat for a considerable period during the quenching operation, which prevents the sharp reduction in temperature of the die surfaces which is essential to produce the best hardening effects. Furthermore as it is necessary in drop forging practice to keep a large number of dies on hand. the size of these die blocks makes the housing and arrangement of the same a considerable problem, and the weight of the blocks consumes a great deal of time and labor in applying them to the drop hammers.

It is the purpose of my invention to obviate the foregoing difliculties in practice, and for this purpose I provide the ram and sow respectively with die holders, which in general outline are like the die blocks heretofore used, and are secured to the ram and sow respectively in the same manner. The die cavities, however, are formed in separateplates which are removably inserted in rc-' cesses in the faces of the respective holders, the face of the die plate in each instance being flush with the face of the holder. The meeting surfaces of the die holders sustain the shock of the blow of the hammer, and therefore die plates may be made of relatively small body. The die holders may be made of relatively inferior metal thus saving the cost of the higher priced metal, and as they are subjected to little deterioration in the use of the hammer they need be but seldom removed, thus saving the labor and time heretofore required in the removal of the die blocks. The die plates must be removed from time totime for exchange or when worn out. but as they are relatively small the labor of removing them and handling them is comparatively slight. Because of the small size of the die plates and the shape thereof they may be made of the finest hardenin steel without undue expense, and readily handled, and being of small body they occupy but little space and require no extra labor to manipulate them during the fashioning of the die cavity and take up but little storage space.

In the accompanying drawing and in the following specification I have shown and de scribed a preferred embodiment of my invention. It is to be understood, however, that the specific disclosure is for the purpose of eXemplification only and that the scope of the invention is defined in the following claims in which I have endeavored to distinguish it from the prior art so far as known to me without, however, relinquishing or abandoning any portion or feature thereof.

Referring to the drawing, Figurel is a perspective view of so much of a drop hammer as is necessary to a clear understanding of my invention, having the latter applied thereto; Fig. 2 a perspective of a holder with a die plate therein; Fig. 3 a face view of the same, and Fig. 4 a perspective view of a die plate detached.

The drop hammer shown in the drawings as having my invention applied thereto, is of an ordinary type comprising a base or anvil 6, guides 7 and a ram 8. The operating mechanism is not shown as it is not essential to my invention. The sow 9 is keyed to the anvil 6 in the usual manner and supports a die holder 10 which is keyed thereto. A die holder 11 is keyed to the ram 8. The die holders and die plates of the ram and sow respectively are substantially identical, and the description of one die plate and holder will therefore answer for both- The die holders are formed with dove-tailed recesses 12, extending across their respective faces butleaving broad shoulders or impact surfaces 13, 13, on the opposite sides of said recesses. The die plates are respectively mounted in these recesses and held from longitudinal movement with respect thereto by means of dowels 14 on the holder engaging recesses 15 in the edges of the respective die plates. The dowel in each instance is .of hardened metal and secured in place by slightly peening the metal of the holder over the end thereof, as shown at 14 The die plate is wedged into the holder by a tapered key 16 driven between the straight edge 17 of the cavity and said plate whereby the latter is locked to the holder. As stated above the face of the die plate is flush with that of the die plate holder and the shoulders 13 of the latter receive the shock of impact, but because of the extent of the contacting surfaces there is but slight displacement of the metal of the holder during the operation of the hammer, so that it is rarely or never necessary to remove the holder from the hammer.

Previous to the forming of the cavity in the die plate the temper of the latter is drawn to soften the metal, but after the cavity is completed the plate is hardened in the usual manner to minimize wear due to the use of the die plate. The plate after being tooled and hardened is simply keyed in the face of the holder in the hammer and is ready for use. In adjusting or replacing the die plate and in shifting the same when tooling it, the labor of one man is amply sufficient, and because of the small size and thinness of the plate it readily responds to the hardening operation.

I claim:

1. In a drop forge hammer, a die holder having a recess in the face thereof and a die plate secured within the recess, the surface of said die plate being flush with the surrounding surface of the die holder.

2.- In a drop forge hammer, a die plate holder having a cavity extending across the face thereof with impact receiving shoulders upon opposite sides of said cavity, a projection from one of said shoulders into said cavity on one edge thereof, a die plate Within the cavity with its surface flush with said shoulders having a recess receiving said projection, and means for securing the die plate in the cavity.

WINFRED H. CARPENTER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Fatents, Washington, D. G. 

